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Mirror, Mirror
When your job is to sell yourself, of course everyone thinks they own you.
Miranda Mercado just wanted people to notice her. She was little more than a child when her first record deal launched her into a career filled with monetary success and artistic stagnation.
Now, Miranda’s life has become a carefully crafted fiction. Her passion to express herself through music has been worn down by the weight of impossible expectations. And if success meant hiding the truth about herself, and accepting the loneliness that came along with it, that was just a price she little choice but to pay.
But if a real relationship is an impractical goal in Miranda’s artificial existence, then what could she hope to find instead?
Rapture and rhapsody, under the spotlight’s glare
The charade and the fantasy, all dreamers beware
They’ll search for your weakness, and pretend that they care
There’s a price tag on everything, they all want their share
Everybody shows then everybody goes
Everybody wants something and everybody knows
This book is a work of fiction and contains scenes of explicit lesbian sexuality.
Miranda Mercado just wanted people to notice her. She was little more than a child when her first record deal launched her into a career filled with monetary success and artistic stagnation.
Now, Miranda’s life has become a carefully crafted fiction. Her passion to express herself through music has been worn down by the weight of impossible expectations. And if success meant hiding the truth about herself, and accepting the loneliness that came along with it, that was just a price she little choice but to pay.
But if a real relationship is an impractical goal in Miranda’s artificial existence, then what could she hope to find instead?
Rapture and rhapsody, under the spotlight’s glare
The charade and the fantasy, all dreamers beware
They’ll search for your weakness, and pretend that they care
There’s a price tag on everything, they all want their share
Everybody shows then everybody goes
Everybody wants something and everybody knows
This book is a work of fiction and contains scenes of explicit lesbian sexuality.
267 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 6, 2016
14 people are currently reading
37 people want to read
About the author
Bridget Balentine
7 books11 followersBridget Balentine lives in the midwest with her wife and is fulfilling a lifelong dream of publishing her work. A former creative writing student and avid reader of all genres, she is excited to add to the growing list of titles and interest in lesbian romance.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 13, 2020
**'My, along with other readers theory is that if you as a writer gets snarky because of being critiqued then you are not ready to write that book and simply need to do some more thinking or some more research...'
2.5stars!
Questionable storyline...
2.5stars!
Questionable storyline...
February 6, 2017
This book . . . this book . . ..
I hated the main character so much I put this book on my paused shelf. I'd have put it on my DNF immediately without that intermediate step but I'd read books by this author before and given them something around 4 stars each. And this was 'free' to me via Kindle-Unlimited. Sooo, I put it on my 'Paused' shelf with every intention of never actually looking at the book again. Until this morning. When I was bored, somewhat, with what I had been reading lately, randomly looked at my paused shelf to see if there was anything there to move to my DNF shelf, and clicked on 'Mirror, Mirror'. My intention was just to take a glimpse then move it.
No, it didn't blow me away. It isn't one of those occasions I put a book on pause, came back to it and found it became super interesting seconds after the pause point. No, it still annoyed me. I kept reading though. And reading. Things were beginning to get interesting, vaguely, and . . . ah crap, near the mid point another character suddenly took over (that was something like strike three, not one (strike one: main character, the singer, beautiful, talented, super rich . . . hates her life, her job, her sex life, her friends, her . . . well, everything about her life. And . . . it drove me mad. She put herself in that position and then complained about it instead of doing anything about it. Strike two: I've a vague feeling I read a rough draft. Because there were a ton of weird mistakes in this book - sentences that only made sense in context (they'd ramble along, a word would be inserted that made no sense there, sentence continued. Not sure there were typos, just weirdly placed words). Strike four: everything restarted. From this new characters point of view. mmphs. (to clarify, strike three was the switch in POV's to a character who had been in the book but hadn't had any of her side shown until mid-point; strike four was the decision to not continue the story from there, but to restart it and show things from this other character's point of view).
Miranda is a gifted talented musician who signed a contract with a record company. They sanitized her music a lot, forced her to hide her gayness, forced her to 'date' men, paid her obscene amounts of money. They did not hold a gun to her head, though, to sign the contract.
Stephanie, from Miranda's perspective, is a prostitute who Miranda meet at a 'meet-the-client' shindig put together by Miranda's 'friends' Hope and Faith (twins who Miranda knew through working with them on their children's show (I mean the show they were on as children, the twins, Miranda was a teen (I think)). A prostitute that Miranda didn't pay but continued to see (and assumed that 'Stephanie' (she assumed it was a fake name) was 'being taken care of' - most likely by Hope and Faith (or one or other other).
Stephanie - from her point of view, was a dancer whose friend dragged her to a party for some extra money. A struggling dancer, hence the acceptance (reluctant) to be dragged along. Stephanie dates Miranda - she's not a prostitute. And I'd say more but, you know, spoilers.
For the vast majority of my time I kind of assumed I'd either a) DNF the book; b) rate the book some low rating. HOw the heck did I end up here? mmphs. Well, I actually liked Stephanie, and Miranda had started to grow on me before the POV change. Then I rather liked - for the most part - Stephanie's section of the book (somewhat reluctantly liked on my part). So . . . here I am. Rating a book 3.75 stars after spending most of the book wonder why it had such a high rating. mmphs.
Rating: 3.75
December 29 2016
I hated the main character so much I put this book on my paused shelf. I'd have put it on my DNF immediately without that intermediate step but I'd read books by this author before and given them something around 4 stars each. And this was 'free' to me via Kindle-Unlimited. Sooo, I put it on my 'Paused' shelf with every intention of never actually looking at the book again. Until this morning. When I was bored, somewhat, with what I had been reading lately, randomly looked at my paused shelf to see if there was anything there to move to my DNF shelf, and clicked on 'Mirror, Mirror'. My intention was just to take a glimpse then move it.
No, it didn't blow me away. It isn't one of those occasions I put a book on pause, came back to it and found it became super interesting seconds after the pause point. No, it still annoyed me. I kept reading though. And reading. Things were beginning to get interesting, vaguely, and . . . ah crap, near the mid point another character suddenly took over (that was something like strike three, not one (strike one: main character, the singer, beautiful, talented, super rich . . . hates her life, her job, her sex life, her friends, her . . . well, everything about her life. And . . . it drove me mad. She put herself in that position and then complained about it instead of doing anything about it. Strike two: I've a vague feeling I read a rough draft. Because there were a ton of weird mistakes in this book - sentences that only made sense in context (they'd ramble along, a word would be inserted that made no sense there, sentence continued. Not sure there were typos, just weirdly placed words). Strike four: everything restarted. From this new characters point of view. mmphs. (to clarify, strike three was the switch in POV's to a character who had been in the book but hadn't had any of her side shown until mid-point; strike four was the decision to not continue the story from there, but to restart it and show things from this other character's point of view).
Miranda is a gifted talented musician who signed a contract with a record company. They sanitized her music a lot, forced her to hide her gayness, forced her to 'date' men, paid her obscene amounts of money. They did not hold a gun to her head, though, to sign the contract.
Stephanie, from Miranda's perspective, is a prostitute who Miranda meet at a 'meet-the-client' shindig put together by Miranda's 'friends' Hope and Faith (twins who Miranda knew through working with them on their children's show (I mean the show they were on as children, the twins, Miranda was a teen (I think)). A prostitute that Miranda didn't pay but continued to see (and assumed that 'Stephanie' (she assumed it was a fake name) was 'being taken care of' - most likely by Hope and Faith (or one or other other).
Stephanie - from her point of view, was a dancer whose friend dragged her to a party for some extra money. A struggling dancer, hence the acceptance (reluctant) to be dragged along. Stephanie dates Miranda - she's not a prostitute. And I'd say more but, you know, spoilers.
For the vast majority of my time I kind of assumed I'd either a) DNF the book; b) rate the book some low rating. HOw the heck did I end up here? mmphs. Well, I actually liked Stephanie, and Miranda had started to grow on me before the POV change. Then I rather liked - for the most part - Stephanie's section of the book (somewhat reluctantly liked on my part). So . . . here I am. Rating a book 3.75 stars after spending most of the book wonder why it had such a high rating. mmphs.
Rating: 3.75
December 29 2016
September 25, 2017
Got a black swan and Pretty woman vibe here.
Mira and Steph are thrown together is the most awkward way.
Mira thought Steph is an escort. Well, Steph’s friend is and not her. A total misunderstanding.
Kind of irritated with both of them especially Mira. No solid connection. But I’m also kind of pissed with Steph. She’s always walking out instead of talking to Mira.
Although I really do appreciate the change of POV.
I kind of skipped a few pages too.
3.5
Mira and Steph are thrown together is the most awkward way.
Mira thought Steph is an escort. Well, Steph’s friend is and not her. A total misunderstanding.
Kind of irritated with both of them especially Mira. No solid connection. But I’m also kind of pissed with Steph. She’s always walking out instead of talking to Mira.
Although I really do appreciate the change of POV.
I kind of skipped a few pages too.
3.5
April 15, 2017
Oh wow, okay. So this book. Honestly, I only read the description and the fact that it was included in my Kindle Unlimited selection before deciding to read it. I did not expect it to be all that good, based on the premise and ages of the characters. I could not have been more wrong. I profoundly apologize for doubting this book. It looks like I took three days to read it, and technically it did, but only because life kept getting in the way. I would have torn through this in a single sitting if I could have.
Don't let this paragraph turn you off from reading this book. It was like multiple things came together to create the characters in this book. The Olsen Twins, with a very dark streak. Demi Lovato, the Disney years, and a touch of Ke$ha thrown in there. I'm sure I'm missing other layers, but wow if those don't do enough all on their own!
The story has layers; layers upon layers. It's hot (although unfortunately the majority of this is in the first half, since ). It's smart. It's captivating. Seriously, I just loved this book.
The shift mentioned above in the spoiler in more detail, didn't annoy me, like it would with most works/authors. Instead the author did it with skill. YMMV, if you're really picky, but I think it was delicately handled, and didn't rehash everything to death. In fact there were times when I wish it had been more heavy handed. I think the author achieved a nice balance.
I will be returning to this book, and this author, no doubt. Worst part was the ending was entirely too soon, and too quick. Definitely leaves you wanting so much more, which honestly I can't see a sequel coming out of what's there. Not sure I would want one. Just a longer ending!
So excited to dive into this author's other works.
Don't let this paragraph turn you off from reading this book. It was like multiple things came together to create the characters in this book. The Olsen Twins, with a very dark streak. Demi Lovato, the Disney years, and a touch of Ke$ha thrown in there. I'm sure I'm missing other layers, but wow if those don't do enough all on their own!
The story has layers; layers upon layers. It's hot (although unfortunately the majority of this is in the first half, since ). It's smart. It's captivating. Seriously, I just loved this book.
The shift mentioned above in the spoiler in more detail, didn't annoy me, like it would with most works/authors. Instead the author did it with skill. YMMV, if you're really picky, but I think it was delicately handled, and didn't rehash everything to death. In fact there were times when I wish it had been more heavy handed. I think the author achieved a nice balance.
I will be returning to this book, and this author, no doubt. Worst part was the ending was entirely too soon, and too quick. Definitely leaves you wanting so much more, which honestly I can't see a sequel coming out of what's there. Not sure I would want one. Just a longer ending!
So excited to dive into this author's other works.
March 25, 2025
There are errors on almost every page. There are times I have no idea what is being said. This is very frustrating. If this writer doesn't care about her writing, why should I?
As far as the story goes, I liked it. I didn't like the deception and misunderstandings throughout the book.
As far as the story goes, I liked it. I didn't like the deception and misunderstandings throughout the book.
January 2, 2017
Long but strong!
I really liked this story. I think some editing could have reduced the length without changing the essence of the story. 4.5 stars
I really liked this story. I think some editing could have reduced the length without changing the essence of the story. 4.5 stars
February 25, 2017
Sweet
A complex tale about two complex women. Loved the side characters, who were very three dimensional. The romance was tender and realistic.
A complex tale about two complex women. Loved the side characters, who were very three dimensional. The romance was tender and realistic.
February 6, 2017
When a friend told me about this book, I feared that it would be too dark. I am so happy that I read the book anyway and didn't take the review of friends. I love this book. It was the first book I've read in a while that touched on some of the deeper issues related to being human and having emotions. I wished that this book hadn't ended and I will be watching this author to read future books. Excellent choice if you don't want only fluff and happy-go-lucky stuff, but something that is real and will touch your life.
December 30, 2016
What a ride!!!
Thank you the author for sharing this journey with your readers. It was truly s great ride . An engrossing story you won't to miss. With my whole heart I recommend this book.
Thank you the author for sharing this journey with your readers. It was truly s great ride . An engrossing story you won't to miss. With my whole heart I recommend this book.
January 15, 2017
Just wow
This was a very interesting story and take on being a musician. I really enjoyed reading it and thinking about what it takes to really make it.
This was a very interesting story and take on being a musician. I really enjoyed reading it and thinking about what it takes to really make it.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews